King on Doctor Sleep
Posted: April 11, 2012, 12:05
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“I did it because it was such a cheesed-off thing to do. To say you were going back to the book that was really popular and write the sequel. People read it as kids; then as adults they might read the sequel and think, this isn’t as good. The challenge is, maybe it can be as good – or different. It gives you something to push up against. [And] I wanted to see what would happen to Danny Torrence when he grew up. I knew that he would be a drunk because his father was a drunk. I thought, okay, I’ll start with Danny Torrence at age forty. He is going to be one of those people who says ‘I am never going to be like my father. Then you wake up at 37 or 38 and you’re a drunk. Then I thought, what kind of a life does that person like that have? He’ll do a bunch of low-bottom jobs, he’ll get canned, and now, I really want him to be in a hospice worker because he has the shining and he can help people get across as they die. They call him Dr Sleep, and they know to call for him when the cat goes into their room and sits on their bed. This was writing about the guy who rides the bus, and he’s eating in a McDonalds, or on a special night out maybe Red Lobster. We are not talking about a guy who goes to [the upscale restaurant] Sardi’s.”
And why it's not released until 2013...
"My agent is dickering with the publishers about Dr Sleep, that’s the sequel to The Shining, but I held off showing them the manuscript because I wanted time to breathe.”
